EVERETT — Wreaths will be laid, muskets fired, speeches made and men in blue and gray uniforms will gather in Everett on Saturday to remember the Battle of Antietam, 145 years later.
While Snohomish County is 2,700 miles from Maryland’s Antietam Creek, its link with the Civil War is clear.
At least 155 Civil War veterans are buried beneath the earth at Evergreen Cemetery.
“The first thing people say is ‘We never had any Civil War battles in Washington,’ ” said Jim Shipman, cemetery historian. “Everybody is extremely surprised” veterans are buried here.
Many veterans of the war lived into the 1920s and 1930s and moved west.
Shipman spent about two years combing through records and inspecting tombstones to identify the final resting places for Civil War veterans who migrated to Snohomish County.
Three of his great-grandfathers fought for the Union, which Shipman said helped spark his interest. Their names are now etched in brick at the Grand Army of the Republic memorial in Everett.
He figures about 750 Civil War veterans are buried in Snohomish County.
Q: Who were these men?
A: Some were drifters grappling with the debilitating effects of post-traumatic stress disorder a century before it carried that name and was understood.
Others moved to the Northwest with their families after selling government grant homesteads they farmed for a few years in the prairies of the Midwest.
Q: Is there anyone notable buried here?
A: The veterans buried at the cemetery include two black Union soldiers. Robert K. Beecham, a Union officer who wrote “Gettysburg: The Pivotal Battle of the Civil War,” also found his final resting place in Everett.
Beecham was captured at Gettysburg. After a prisoner exchange, he went on to become an officer who commanded a black unit that fought at the Battle of the Crater in 1864 in Virginia. He was injured and again taken prisoner.
Paying tribute to the valor of the blacks who fought under his command, he said they were “the bravest and best soldiers that ever lived.”
Q: What’s planned for Sunday’s ceremony.
A: Enlarged one-sheet biographies of 30 Civil War veterans, including two Confederates, buried at the cemetery will be exhibited, along with Civil War weapons, uniforms and other artifacts.
The biographies include old photographs and information on veterans and their families.
Refreshments and speeches by the Sons of the Union, Confederacy and other groups are planned.
Regional historian David Dilgard will also offer tours of famous and interesting people buried at Evergreen Cemetery.
— David Chircop, Herald Writer
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